Case Number 04279

Shattered Glass

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All Rise...

Judge Dan Mancini swears that he wrote this review himself, of a story chronicling "journalist" Stephen Glass.

The Charge

Read between the lies.

Facts of the Case

In 1998, Stephen Glass (Hayden Christensen, Life as a House, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones)
was a darling of the American print media. 25 years old, Glass had contributed
articles to Harper's, George, and Rolling Stone, and he was
the youngest member of the writing and editing staff at The New Republic,
where his vivid prose added vigor to a magazine with a reputation for being
staid and stodgy. Glass's energetic story pitches became the highlight of staff
meetings. Unfortunately, the young journalist would prove to be more P.T. Barnum
than Edward R. Murrow.

Everything changed on May 6, 1998, when Glass's piece, "Hack
Heaven," hit news stands. The article told the story of a 15-year-old
computer geek who hacked into the network of a major software company called
Jukt Micronics and posted pornographic pictures and the message "Big Bad
Bionic Boy Has Been Here Baby" on their website. Jukt executives, it seems,
met with the boy at a hacker's convention in Las Vegas—a meeting Glass
claimed to have attended—and rather than threatening legal action, offered
him a lucrative contract to work for them.

Surprised he'd been scooped on his technology beat by a straight news
magazine, Adam Penenberg (Steve Zahn, That Thing You Do!, Saving Silverman) of the Forbes
Digital webzine began plugging "facts" from Glass's article into a
variety of search engines and was unable to confirm the existence of Jukt
Micronics; The National Assembly of Hackers or their convention in Vegas; a
government agency called The Center for Interstate Online Investigations; or the
boy, Ian Restil, and his agent, Joe Hiert. Penenberg contacted Chuck Lane (Peter
Sarsgaard, The Center of the World,
The Salton Sea), senior editor at The
New Republic, to verify the accuracy of the story. That's when Glass's glory
days as journalism's favorite wunderkind came to an abrupt end.

To their horror, Lane and his staff uncovered a history of Glass
fabrications that dated back to Michael Kelly's (Hank Azaria, The
Simpsons, The Bird Cage) tenure as the magazine's senior editor.

The Evidence

Shattered Glass is a compelling film because of a clever structure
that tells two parallel yet entwined stories. While Stephen Glass's elaborate
attempts to hide his own perfidies are center stage, Chuck Lane's ascent as
senior editor of the The New Republic is equally engaging. As the movie
begins, Michael Kelly is at the helm of the magazine, nearly worshipped by his
writers for his devotion to them and his willingness to defend them against the
iron fist of the magazine's owner, Marty Peretz. Kelly's advocacy on behalf of
his staff eventually gets him fired (he would go on to edit Atlantic
Monthly until he was killed in 2003 covering the war in Iraq), and Lane was
given his job, much to the chagrin of his peers. Lane's dogged pursuit of the
truth regarding Glass alienates him even further from his staff, who view the
young man as an enormously talented but vulnerable kid brother type. But as
evidence of Glass's systematic lying mounts, Lane's rigid journalistic integrity
gives him the sort of tangible moral authority that can't simply be handed over
by a publication's owner along with the keys to the big office. Shattered
Glass makes intelligent use of the inextricable and converse relationship
between the reputations of Glass and Lane. The result is a dynamic character
drama.

This two-character structure is bolstered by whiz-bang performances by both
Hayden Christensen and Peter Sarsgaard. Christensen is perfect as the consummate
conman, manipulating his peers and superiors (not to mention us) by telling them
what they want to hear, and exuding the innocent savant's lack of confidence in
or awareness of his own powers. His childish refrain, "Are you mad at
me?" is so disarming one almost wants him to succeed in his
lies…almost. The film's artistic success relies in large part on making
the audience understand how seasoned professional journalists could have been so
thoroughly deceived by a 25-year-old newbie. Billy Ray's (Hart's War) excellent screenplay sets a solid
foundation, but it's ultimately up to Christensen to seduce us just as Glass
seduced the folks at The New Republic. He delivers.

I've never seen Peter Sarsgaard turn in anything other than a wonderful
performance, even in less-than-wonderful movies. His work in Shattered
Glass is subtle and keenly-observed. It's the sort of acting that's so
natural one gets lost in it, losing sight of the actor as an actor and buying
the character wholesale. Chuck Lane is a character under pressure from all
sides. His loyalty to Michael Kelly is tested, his integrity is questioned, his
staff dislikes him, his young star is under attack from a rival publication, and
the reputation of The New Republic itself is on the line. It would be
easy for an actor to mishandle any of these threads, to overplay key moments by
slipping into self-indulgence. Sarsgaard never does; not even for the briefest
moment. His performance—and this isn't exaggeration—is perfect.

As if Christensen and Sarsgaard weren't enough, the movie also boasts fine
supporting performances by Chloë Sevigny (Julien Donkey-Boy) and the
always excellent Melanie Lynskey (Heavenly Creatures, Sweet Home Alabama) as Caitlin Avery and
Amy Brand, New Republic staffers manipulated by Glass into acting as his
mother hens; Steve Zahn and Rosario Dawson (Sidewalks of New York, 25th Hour) as the Forbes
reporters who expose Glass; and an avuncular Hank Azaria as Michael Kelly. There
just isn't a weak spot in this cast.

Shattered Glass comes to DVD in a transfer that is mostly strong,
despite some haloing throughout, and a spot or two of egregious dirt and debris
on the source print near the end of the film. And the 5.1 Dolby Surround track
is more than adequate for the movie's relatively low-key audio.

Extras include an excellent commentary by writer-director Billy Ray and
former New Republic senior editor Chuck Lane, and a 13-minute 60
Minutes interview with Stephen Glass. Both supplements underscore the film's
fidelity to the actual events as well as the quality of Christensen's and
Sarsgaard's performances.

Closing Statement

I know the cheesy "true story that shocked a nation" tagline at the
bottom of the DVD's keep case doesn't exactly inspire confidence, but trust me.
Shattered Glass is a winner. I have no qualms recommending it.